


good love grown

by farfromthstars



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Friends to Lovers, M/M, POV Outsider, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29583915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfromthstars/pseuds/farfromthstars
Summary: “Hi,” Buck says, and Albert suddenly feels like an intruder even though he is the one who currently lives here, thank you very much.“Hi,” Eddie says back and yeah, he’s definitely never looked at Albert that way. Or anyone who isn’t Buck, as far as Albert can remember.orliving with buck gives albert a front row view to whatever it is buck and eddie have got going on.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 97
Kudos: 902





	good love grown

**Author's Note:**

> so i was just sitting in the sun minding my own business (first day it felt like spring! ☀️) and this idea wouldn't leave me alone until it was written. so here we are :)

Maybe there’s a certain skill involved when it comes to bad timing. And if there is - ever since he got to the United States, Albert has excelled at it. 

Arriving at his brother’s doorstep on his birthday of all days. Starting to realise he should probably start figuring out what he actually wants to do with his life just as a global pandemic hit. Being around for explosive family drama that has nothing to do with him.

Just to name a few things. 

And now, months and months into this pandemic that put his search for purpose to a temporary stop, he’s here, living with his brother’s coworker and future brother-in-law so Howie can be with Maddie. Which is completely fine, Howie deserves to be happy and Buck is great - but his apartment is also decidedly not made for two people who aren’t in an intimate relationship with each other. 

Albert isn’t sure how Howie and Buck survived for this long, because the only reason he does is that Buck regularly works 12 or 24 hour shifts and he has the loft to himself during those. Yes, he’s already spent months living on his brother’s couch, but at least there was a door between their beds. 

When they’re both at home at the same time, they mostly play video games or watch tv. Sometimes Buck tries to teach him to cook, and he spends an honestly annoying amount of time trying to get Albert to clean the kitchen and bathroom and makes snide comments about learning how to fold clothes, but he’s not a bad roommate. He’s fun and nice and they barely fight despite the lack of privacy.

Twice a week, Buck sits out on the balcony to talk to his therapist, and even on his days off, he usually spends a couple of hours out of the house. If he tells Albert where he’s going, it’s usually something like “Oh, just going to hang out with Eddie and Chris”, or “I promised Eddie I was going to help him with something”, or “Christopher got a new game that we want to try out.” 

What Albert gets from this is that any time Buck doesn’t spend at the loft or at work, he spends with Eddie. He knows they’re best friends - but they already work together, and Albert has yet to meet a person he would want to be around _that_ much. 

Before he lived with Buck, he already noticed that the two of them were pretty much joined at the hip whenever he saw them together, and that Eddie’s son was familiar with Buck in a way he wasn’t with anyone else from the team. And he’s heard Howie complain about the time the three of them quarantined together one too many times. Apparently they shared Buck’s bed while Howie took the couch, and from what he says they became a super annoying entity, co-dependent and weirdly in sync. Well, Albert hasn’t witnessed that in person, but-

Currently, Buck is in the kitchen, cooking and laughing while his phone is on the counter next to him, on a FaceTime call to Eddie as if they haven’t just seen each other at work barely three hours ago.

“Come on, Eds,” Buck is saying, and his voice sounds so fond that Albert can’t help but look over from where he’s spread out on the couch, “I know I showed you how to do this. It’s not rocket science.”

Albert is too far away to catch Eddie’s reply, but Buck laughs again and starts explaining from the beginning. As far as he can tell, Buck and Eddie are currently cooking the same dinner, Buck coaching Eddie through all the steps. There’s a lot of laughter and gentle teasing and Albert rolls his eyes, putting on his headphones. At least he’s gonna be eating his share of whatever they’re making later.

Another two or so hours later, Buck excuses himself upstairs to his bed, and Albert hears him talking to someone in a soft voice, before he starts reading from a children’s book.

Albert grins and texts Howie, _they’re doing remote bedtime again_.

He gets a couple of laughing emojis back, and a _cute_. _You think he’ll cave and read two chapters again?_

It _is_ cute, Albert thinks, that Buck always has whatever book Christopher is currently reading on his bedside table, and how every evening, Christopher tries to get him to read an extra chapter.

Tonight, Buck laughs and says, “You know dad said one chapter is enough, kiddo. And he’s the boss, sorry.”

When Albert asks Howie if it means something that Buck dropped the “your” before “dad”, he texts back: _Yes. Just not sure they know it yet._

That’s something Albert hasn’t figured out yet either. Is Buck aware of the look on his face when he texts Eddie? Does he know what his voice sounds like when he says his name? Albert hasn’t seen Eddie in person in months, but he doesn’t remember his voice sounding as soft as it does over Buck’s phone either.

One day when Albert comes home from work, he finds Christopher and Buck sat at the dining table, heads bent over Christopher’s schoolwork. He waves at them from afar and ducks into the bathroom to shower before he dares to move closer. He sits on a stool at the kitchen island and watches them for a while, Christopher concentrated on his work and Buck ready to jump in whenever he needs help. It’s sweet. And boring as hell - while Buck’s a few years older than Albert, this sure isn’t something he would consider a fun activity for someone Buck’s age.

A few minutes later, the apartment door opens and Eddie lets himself inside, carrying a bag of groceries. He disappears into the bathroom for a minute before coming their way.

“Hey Albert, good to see you, man,” he says and Albert echoes the sentiment, watching as Eddie ruffles Christopher’s hair before he bends over to press a kiss to his head. Then, he slides his hand from Buck’s one shoulder to the other as he walks by and Buck looks up, smiling at him.

“Hi,” Buck says, and Albert suddenly feels like an intruder even though _he_ is the one who currently lives here, thank you very much.

“Hi,” Eddie says back and yeah, he’s definitely never looked at Albert that way. Or anyone who isn’t Buck, as far as Albert can remember.

Albert sits there as Eddie packs away the groceries and washes his hands again, but leaves them be after a while because the whole domesticity is honestly getting a bit too much for him. Later, he offers to play a video game with Christopher so Eddie and Buck can take care of dinner and he gets to watch exactly what Howie had meant when he talked about them being one entity. It’s creepy, almost, because they don’t seem to need words to communicate, passing ingredients and knives and spoons back and forth without ever asking for them. They do talk sometimes, just not about the task, and they _touch_ \- every time Albert looks over, Eddie’s got a hand on Buck’s hip as he steps around him, or Buck pats his shoulder for something, or they’re just standing next to each other while chopping things, shoulders pressed together. 

When Eddie and Chris leave a few hours later, Albert clears his throat pointedly.

“What?” Buck asks, and Albert laughs.

“I can’t tell if you’re genuinely this oblivious or if you think there’s something else in your way,” he says. This is getting ridiculous, and if he has to spend one more day looking at Buck’s sad eyes after spending time with Eddie and Chris, he’s going to explode. “He loves you back, man.”

He doesn’t wait to see how Buck reacts, fleeing to the bathroom instead to give him some space. If Buck really hasn’t figured it out by now, he doesn’t want to be around for it.

Nothing changes. Buck doesn’t talk to Albert about what he said, and he still spends most of his time either directly with Eddie or on the phone with him. Well. Albert’s done all he can, the rest is up to them.

And then, when he steps into the apartment one morning - because at least one of them should have a love life, really - Albert finds Eddie in the kitchen, making coffee.

He’s wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt that definitely belongs to Buck and his hair is messier than Albert has ever seen it. Huh.

“Morning, Albert,” Eddie says, as if the sight of him like this is a normal thing.

“Morning?” It comes out like a question and Eddie grins. It morphs into something much softer when his gaze slides to something - someone - behind Albert, and Albert turns to see Buck standing at the top of the stairs, dressed similarly to Eddie. 

With the way they’re looking at each other, Albert suddenly wants to be literally anywhere else but here; and he thinks he might as well be - it’s like they’ve both forgotten he’s even in the room.

Buck starts walking down the stairs and Eddie motions to the coffee, says, “I wanted to bring this up to you.”

Without slowing down, Buck walks right up to Eddie and wraps himself around him completely, arms around his middle and face pressed into the side of his neck. Eddie laughs and kisses the side of his neck, oddly sweet.

“You were too far away,” Buck mumbles and- yeah, okay, his hands are definitely under Eddie’s shirt now.

Slowly, Albert starts edging his way back to the door, watching as Eddie’s hand curls in the hair at the back of Buck’s head. Buck straightens up just enough to look at him with an expression that’s almost awe, and then he’s turning their bodies so he’s boxing Eddie in against the kitchen counter. Eddie clearly doesn’t mind if the smile on his face and the way he brushes their noses together is anything to go by. 

Alberts back hits the front door just in time to see the almost reverent way they kiss in the morning sun, and he slips out unnoticed.

Whether this is a thing that happened last night or Buck just failed to inform him of the new development doesn’t matter. He’s gonna have breakfast at his brother’s place instead.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, let me know what you thought?  
> come say hi on [tumblr](https://buckactuallys.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
